Tuesday, May 9, 2017 – Planting Gardens & Flower Pots at Carthage, Jay & Kristin for Lunch

Sis. Johnson and I had another big full day of planting flowerbeds. Today we were off to Carthage with truck and trailers loaded with thousands of potted plants. We arrived at the Carthage Visitor’s Center at 8:00 AM and we were greeted by over a dozen Senior missionaries there to help us. 

The mission has put out a request for volunteer Senior Missionaries to  give up two hours of their P-day to help plant all of the flowerbeds in Nauvoo and in Carthage. The response has been tremendous. Including all of the grounds keeping staff and missionaries there were over 20 people to help this morning.

Everyone pitched in and worked very hard. It was a hot day but that didn’t slow anyone down. Richard arranged the plants in the two main flowerbeds just like a florist designs a beautiful bouquet of mixed flowers. In floral design school they taught us “Every plant has a face and every face has a place.” Well, Richard scalped his beautiful flowerbeds with the expertise of a master artesian. 

In addition to planting the two large main flowerbeds, we also planted 33 large terracotta planters with a mix of colorful potted plants. These planters line the sidewalk leading to the Visitor’s Center and also the sidewalks and rotunda that leaves the Jail back door. 

The whole project was done and cleaned up by noon. What a good group of volunteers, last year we didn’t finish until after 3:30 PM.

My nephew, Jay Wilson and his wife Kristin arrived to take a tour of the Carthage Jail a little before noon. When their tour ended they treated us to lunch at “Los Charros” Mexican restaurant in down town Carthage. It is one of our favorite places to eat in Carthage. We had a wonderful meal and good conversation with our family.